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Do you like Liquid Glass on Mac?
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It’s also a real shame Apple didn’t focus on bringing the glassy look to elements like progress bars, check boxes, buttons, etc. Here’s hoping they’ll do so next year.
Sure. So there are some things about Liquid Glass in general that I don't like in general, meaning across all platforms, somethings that don't bother me as much on iOS and tvOS, and somethings that I think are horrid on iPadOS and macOS. In general, I agree with all of the legibility issues which include overlapping text and controls; the light refracting is over the top, distracting, and purposeless; I don't mind the Liquid part as much but I think some of the animations are too much; the transparency and materiality of the control, again, create legibility issues but also seem to exist for no reason other than someone thinks it looks cool. There's a bunch of other stuff, some minor, some mind-boggling that really are antithetical to Apple's own UX/UI design philosophy.
I'd like to focus on window rendering and management, since you specifically asked about workflow. The chunky concentric radii of the windows not only looks childish it also wastes a bunch of space and makes it harder to arrange multiple windows in a manner that I am accustomed to and prefer. I have a 14" MBP and a Mac mini attached to a Studio Display. I have a specific window arrangement that I use when doing dev work. Tahoe broke that. I'm prefer 27" over larger monitors and use it with a modular setup including an 11" iPad and the 14" MBP. The chunkier windows keep me from maximizing content space. Every bit counts and I had it nicely fine-tuned. The sidebars are weirdly separated, implying the ability to separate them, which might have been nice, but are simply cosmetic. Safari on Tahoe is one of the worst offenders. The excessive redacting and "adaptability" is just so bad. It was designed for in the pristine fantasy world of a design studio not for the cluttered and over posted web. I don't want my browser window to dynamically adapt to a Zappos Labor Day ad. The tab bar situation is confusing and Picasso-esque, and not in a good way, once again demanding too much attention and getting in the way. Not everything needs to be a capsule. I'm OK with some more roundedness, and some cases it's warranted for legibility. I'm a fan of the SF Symbols upgrades, for example.
These are some of the major pain-points for me and my workflow, unfortunately, there are many others. I've also noticed some performance issues and app memory leaks which would affect everyday tasks, but I assume that many of those can and will be fixed. My main issue is that the new design is poorly conceived and implemented, achieving the antithesis of its stated design goals—to be adaptive. I'm all for creating a more cohesive design across all platforms, but let each device on each platform do what it does best and adapt to the workflow that suits the job. And make it pretty. Make it worthy of Apple's premium hardware aesthetic.
Sometimes I get a drop shadow appear behind it but I can't for the life of me figure out the logic. So it could be bugged or just poor implementation which is about right these days.
The fun and magical drop shadow has reappeared. Can't show you the whole image as it's my Mrs lol. Can't figure out why it appears on some and not others as some you would expect it to it doesn't and vice versa. Also screen grabbing the full screen doesn't capture the menu bar you have to do it drawing the box for it to appear so no idea how you would do a full screen grab if you wanted the menu bar in there too.
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Anybody who has ever worked in large enterprises like Apple knows how they operate, and that things can get really messed up by management, too many different stakeholders with different goals and deadlines dictated by business forecasts and expectations.
Meaning, Apple can have the best designers in the world (and they probably do) and can still **** things up. Typically not the fault of the designers, but all the things influencing them.
BTW: Appeal to authority is a logical fallacy.
Meaning, Apple can have the best designers in the world (and they probably do) and can still **** things up. Typically not the fault of the designers, but all the things influencing them.
BTW: Appeal to authority is a logical fallacy.
<retracted comment to focus on fixes>
lets hope for a quick 26.1 .2 update for bugs
lets hope for a quick 26.1 .2 update for bugs
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Thank you so much for this. This was a great post to read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in UI and the evolution of interfaces as devices became more complex and capable.
The mockups are nice, but I really think the new UI works best in motion and when you see it amongst your stuff. Like the customize button on the lockscreen selector reflecting the wallpaper.
taking unnecessary cpu cycles while straining peoples eyes.
Totally makes sense, I'm not that much distracted by inconsistencies (I've noticed some of them though) because I'm a big keyboard user and when I need to look at my screen to do something I mainly rely on visual cues: icons, positions so on so forth. You being a professional designer, it's probably way harder to not notice so yeah that makes senses that you feel it's draining.
Liquid Glass is probably a bit rushed, they should have taken the time to polish it but the annual release cycle doesn't leave room for that, people want their new features no matter what and sometimes it's half-assed (yes I'm looking at you Apple Intelligence). I'm sure they will fix it, though.
Speaking mainly of the version we saw in the keynote; a reactive UI (think dynamic island) is pretty nice to have, and an easy link between cause and effect. I like the idea of having a UI that exists on top of the content, and acts like a real-life analogue. The new UI acts like a viscous oil so it's more...relatable? It's difficult for me to put into words, but basically it feels more spatial and seems to differentiate between Content Layer, Content, Control Surface, control buttons.
Now the version we got is about 30% of that with some stupid decisions, and iOS 26 is a 40% version of that.
This is the sort of discussion this thread warrants, rather than insults about not living in the real world etc.
Good to read your well-constructed thoughts, and I certainly agree that whilst Apple was pursuing a more ‘reactive’ GUI, they may have executed it in fundamentally the wrong way.
Not disagreeing with you, but adding. Not all large orgs are the same. Some permit a large degree of autonomy. Some almost run like a hive of small businesses. I ran a group in Sun, back in the day, and that's pretty much how they were set up. I don't get the impression that Apple is anything like that. It appears from the outside like a everything is tightly nailed down, presumably as a legacy of Jobs' clear authoritarian approach.
Having great people is a start. You have to take them with you – hate that phrase. It's easy for good people to tread water after they disengage with an idea: might as well keep the paycheck coming till the wind changes direction.
For sure. It feels like they were trying to makeup for the Apple Intelligence fiasco and pushed LG out of the door both before the design could be nailed down and before it could be properly implemented. IMHO I really hope they rethink their strategy for OS26 as well. I have no problem with what they're chasing but they need to dial it back across the board. And I have no problem if they continue to add more user customizations to the UI as long as start with a cleaner more minimal aesthetic that Apple is known for.
Liquid Glass doesn't look very liquidy on my MacBook Air's Liquid Retina Display when icons are on the smaller side. It's a little exaggerated here since the image is zoomed a bit, but it's obvious enough for me to see plainly which made me take a closer look.
Smaller Liquid Glass icons look like they were popped out of plastic frames during a subpar degating process leaving little bits of the frame behind. The inner icon image looks a bit coarse as well with some icons. Hopefully this will be addressed in an update.
Smaller Liquid Glass icons look like they were popped out of plastic frames during a subpar degating process leaving little bits of the frame behind. The inner icon image looks a bit coarse as well with some icons. Hopefully this will be addressed in an update.
Agree with your overall point - LG has been half-assed at best (wtf is control center with reduced transparency? why is every icon a stupid square?) but if they were going to unify their OSes they maybe should have picked a better starting point than one of their least popular products (tbf I was open to LG in some of the previews, throughout the betas, and in screenshots like yours).
As a Bay Area designer, I say again Apple's design team has gone from absolute leaders in the field to releasing a mess I'd be embarrassed to put my name on (and that's not just Tahoe, but Tahoe represents the biggest drop in quality in ages). It's especially embarrassing because it really seems like not too much has changed technically/under the hood in Tahoe.
I think fisherking's argued themselves into a corner. Personally, I'm seeing a real difference between people who know that design - including UX design - has fundamental rules and those that think it's magic. Sure sometimes people can break the rules, but most of the time the rules (like legibility! it's easier to quickly interpret different shapes!) are rules for a reason.
And that's not even discussing the actual, straight up UX/UI bugs myself and others have posted to this thread. As the graphic designer TumbleDryer said, design creates solutions to solve problems (hence orgs like IDEO), and polish is a part of design.
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Well the UI has been called "Fisher-price", "Cartoon" and "childish"..
But...this thread's arguments and rants might prove these comments to be true..
Let's end the rants and get back to discussing what this thread was about.
I am generally "ok" with the L.G. concept...but it still "needs work". Maybe the designers needed more time to get this right (like the obvious errors). It "does feel "Half-baked" and from a design approach it seems like they changed "stuff" JUST to change or to "think different".
But..change for the sake of change sometimes is overdoing it. It might be just taste, but having the icon on the left and not in the center is annoying to me..(see image below)
Maybe it is just me who is an "old" designer and come from a family of designers. LOL
If I tried this back-in-the day when I was young...my Dad would have "hit me".. What is this s-@t.?!? (toilet waste meaning). He would have complained that I was going too far against "His" design rules. I would have done this if I was in my first year of University design studies (or Kindergarten)....
TOO much blank space on the right that causes the eye to move around too much in displeasure.
"Yes"...trying new things to "Think Different"...but some things we have to say just "No".
At least give us an option to change it. Icon Needs to be centered (too much space on the right).
But...it is just my "opinion"...it is annoying..(see image below)
But...this thread's arguments and rants might prove these comments to be true..
Let's end the rants and get back to discussing what this thread was about.
I am generally "ok" with the L.G. concept...but it still "needs work". Maybe the designers needed more time to get this right (like the obvious errors). It "does feel "Half-baked" and from a design approach it seems like they changed "stuff" JUST to change or to "think different".
But..change for the sake of change sometimes is overdoing it. It might be just taste, but having the icon on the left and not in the center is annoying to me..(see image below)
Maybe it is just me who is an "old" designer and come from a family of designers. LOL
If I tried this back-in-the day when I was young...my Dad would have "hit me".. What is this s-@t.?!? (toilet waste meaning). He would have complained that I was going too far against "His" design rules. I would have done this if I was in my first year of University design studies (or Kindergarten)....
TOO much blank space on the right that causes the eye to move around too much in displeasure.
"Yes"...trying new things to "Think Different"...but some things we have to say just "No".
At least give us an option to change it. Icon Needs to be centered (too much space on the right).
But...it is just my "opinion"...it is annoying..(see image below)
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I’m genuinely curious from a designer’s POV. What are the possible purposes for not centring it? Is it meant to be discordant and draw your attention by being annoying? Or is there some kind of other technical benefit for RTL languages?
However, for all the discussion on this forum, there are people out in the real world who are just using their macs and VERY MUCH WORRIED about the NEW GUI, and because they can't change the BASIC CORE FACT, they have to go to the forum to discuss it.
Your argument is meaningless.
It might be just what school of design training or particular style or actual school one was brought up in...and I was also making a pun or a designer joke (for fun and some might catch it and laugh) for those of us who were shaped in various schools of thought concerning design. 🤣 Really...at the end of the day, concerning design and look...whatever one likes is ok. Not in everything of life, but design, yes, like wine.
Each design generation and/or school have their own "design laws" and what is considered "correct".
For instance: My Dad who was taught in what would be now considered "old ways", and was trained what was "right and wrong" concerning Graphic design for that generation and it was considered "The Standard".
For instance: He was very annal about making sure that there was a little more space on the bottom of something when centering because (the eye naturally will see something that is perfectly centered as a little lower due to how our eyes intake light). So..when centering something (like text or an image) on a page or something, you move it up just a hair so when you look at it, it "looks" centered, but in actuality it is not...but...you might want to "not" do this in order to express or get another effect (like Apple did with the left icon). But..He was very persistent in "this is the right way" or standard. Maybe Tahoe and Liquid Glass has elements of this which is getting people all "bent-out-of shape" (pun) about. "Yes" there are various design basics, but sometimes it is ok to "NOT" do them for whatever effect is desired.
Apple is known for just to do stuff to piss people off, and they might just be getting back to their roots or old guys just tired of stuff (and have made their money) and now wanting to cause trouble like they use to in their young "Pirate" mentality days like Apple use to be...relive a little youth again (as can be the norm sometimes), especially if one is about to retire...
As some on this thread have argued from a "designers" perspective, there are basic "design laws" that have been violated (let's say), but due to even the nature of design..design laws can be "broken" in the name of design or art. That was also where the concept of "Think Differently" came. Apple might have just got tired of doing what they did before and thought: let's now thinking a different Way and piss people off...again.
I was taught a particular way how layout should be done. So...my eye "sees" too much blank space on the right. "yes" when you align left, you align everything left (like the icon and text), but...the bubble might be too big, so to me...there is too much space on the right and "looks" like something has to occupy that space. But, that was taught, but it might not bother others.
It might depend on the designer, but I would probably make the bubble a little smaller "if" justifying left everything so the bubble space is not outstanding, but again that is my design taste.
And "that" might really be at the end of the day...all of the complaints.
Compare the two...
This one is ok and does not bother me...so it is probably A.I. generated...bubble is thinner.